3 Bands From the 1980s That Perfected Dance Rock and Proved Disco Wasn’t Dead

When we think of changing music scenes, we often think of clean breaks during a new year or a new decade. But that’s not exactly how it works. Genres evolve and often blend into one another, as is the case with proto-punk, punk, post-punk, and new wave.

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I mention those movements because they led to the emergence of alternative and indie dance rock bands in the 1980s. When Disco Demolition Night happened at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1979, the riot that ensued didn’t kill disco. Instead, DJs in Chicago’s underground clubs remixed disco tracks, giving them a motorized feel. Soon, bands took a similar approach as electronic instruments became more affordable to young musicians and producers.

The club culture grew in popularity, evolving from disco and leading to yet another movement combining rock and dance music. And these three bands, in unique ways, perfected the art of dance rock and proved disco wasn’t dead after all.

Talking Heads

Talking Heads, with help from Brian Eno, employed a technique to mimic dance records. Eno recorded the band jamming, located the best parts, and had the musicians perform those parts in a loop. It echoed the hypnotic grooves of Fela Kuti and is most famously heard on “Once In A Lifetime”.  

Meanwhile, the post-punk bands in England were experimenting with samplers, synthesizers, and drum machines. And Talking Heads gave them a blueprint for danceable rock that was rooted in punk. Even before their live looping experiments, you could always dance to Talking Heads. “Psycho Killer” is for the disco punks.

New Order

The success of New Order’s single “Blue Monday” funded The Haçienda club in Manchester, England. Together with Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, it helped launch the acid house and rave scene. With a generation of kids coming of age in dance clubs instead of rock clubs.

At the time, Chicago house music had reduced disco to its essential elements: the beat, the bass line, and the vocal hook. New Order and others recycled minimalist grooves from house records and combined them with 1960s-inspired psychedelia. Though “Blue Monday” made it happen financially, check out “Bizarre Love Triangle” for New Order’s take on disco.

Happy Mondays

If you were at those Manchester raves in the 80s, you know you would have been mad fer it. Shaun Ryder was no different. Happy Mondays connected the rave scene with indie rock. They signed to Wilson’s Factory Records and became a pioneer of what came to be known as Madchester.

With its roots in punk, post-punk, disco, and house music, the Madchester scene changed youth culture. But it also changed the trajectory of British indie rock. Still, Happy Mondays were there to make you dance. And hype man, Mark “Bez” Berry, who appeared onstage dancing with maracas, helped usher in the era of baggy bands mix of guitars and acid house.       

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